Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice says only six West African countries are ready to respect its rulings 20 years after its establishment.
The president of the court, Justice Amoako Asante, said since establishment of the court in 1991, only six countries of the 15 member states had met the pre-requisite for obeying the court rulings.
Giving an address at the opening of an international conference to celebrate the court at 20 and also seek law reviews and advance its knowledge, Asante said that all countries ought to have set up a national authority to implement its rulings.
The conference has as its theme: “20 Years of ECOWAS Court of Justice: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects”.
He listed Guinea, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana as the six countries that had set up a competent authority to implement the court rulings as stipulated in the protocol.
“The poor rate of compliance with judgements of the court, which currently stands at about 30 per cent, is also of grave concern to the court.
“We regret that only six member states have appointed the competent national authorities for the enforcement of judgements of the court in their respective domains.These are the Republic of Guinea, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana. We will continue to appeal for the remaining members to do the needful,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that other West African countries yet to set up such authority include: Benin, Cape Verde, Côte D’ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Asante said that the 1991 Protocol establishing the court stipulated interpretation and application of the revised treaty, protocols, conventions, supplementary acts, regulations, directives and decisions, as part of the mandate of the court.
He said that the court also had the jurisdiction to review the legality of the instruments listed, while also serving as an administrative tribunal for ECOWAS public servants.
He thanked all past and serving judges of the ECOWAS Court of Justice that had contributed to this impressive judicial record.He, however, added that there were currently 166 cases pending before the court.
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